Notifications Off 🔕

Allegedly, it's a harmless question. Can XYZ send you notifications? Allow, allow! Of course you can, app for my vacuum cleaning robot from China. You deserve a piece of my attention. It's now split between you and 30 other apps (slash companies) that all deserve to inform me whenever they seem fit.

What can go wrong?

First, there is the cue. The cue triggers your brain to initiate a behavior. It is a bit of information that predicts a reward. Our prehistoric ancestors were paying attention to cues that signaled the location of primary rewards like food, water, and sex. Today, we spend most of our time learning cues that predict secondary rewards like money and fame, power and status, praise and approval, love and friendship, or a sense of personal satisfaction. (Of course, these pursuits also indirectly improve our odds of survival and reproduction, which is the deeper motive behind everything we do.)

— The Science of how habits work, Atomic Habits by James Clear

Notification seem like a good idea. But seriously, we should all think again: are they really?

It's been 2 years without notifications. And I haven't looked back.